Yadagiri, a veteran journalist and staff correspondent for the local, Telugu-language daily Andhra Prabha, was stabbed to death near his home in the town of Medak, in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh State. Local journalists told CPJ that Yadagiri, 35, was murdered in reprisal for his articles investigating the illegal sale of home-brewed liquor, known locally as toddy.

Local sources told CPJ that Yadagiri had written a series of articles detailing the dangers of consuming toddy and accusing local politicians of being involved in its trade. The national English-language newspaper TheHindu reported that prior to his death, Yadagiri had registered a police complaint after he received threats from a local contractor involved in the illegal toddy business.

According to local sources, on the night of February 21, Yadagiri was invited to a meeting with several people involved in the toddy trade. After the meeting, Yadagiri was accompanied home by at least three of the men who had been present, along with Siddaram Reddy, another local journalist and friend of Yadagiri. Lakshminarayana Goud, one of those accompanying Yadagiri, stabbed him multiple times before fleeing the scene, according to local news reports and sources.

Reddy and Yadagiri’s family members brought the journalist to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. Following the stabbing, local police arrested four suspects and charged them with involvement in the murder. According to Amar Devulapalli, the head of the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), Goud was charged, along with Sirimalle Srinivas, Venkatesh Chauhan, and Nagi Reddy (who is not related to Siddaram Reddy).

Devulapalli told CPJ that the state government of Andhra Pradesh condemned the murder and gave money and land to Yadagiri’s family as compensation for their loss. However, local police have accused Siddaram Reddy of being the true culprit in the murder and have arrested and charged him with involvement, Devulapalli said.

In response, APUWJ pressured the federal Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) to investigate the state’s prosecution of Yadagiri’s murder. The
CBI is currently conducting an inquiry into the handling of the case,
during which the trials for the four suspects and Siddaram Reddy have
been delayed, Devulapalli said.
MARCH 15, 2004Posted: April 8, 2004
Rafiq Maqbool, Associated PressATTACKED

Maqbool, a photographer with The Associated Press, was stopped at a
police checkpoint in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, while driving
home. When he did not exit his car fast enough at the checkpoint, Indian
security officers screamed at him to hurry, and then, upon noticing
his cameras in the back seat of the car, started beating him on the
head, according to Maqbool and another journalist who witnessed the
event.

Maqbool told the officers that he has a blood clot on his brain from
a grenade explosion, but they continued harassing him. A police constable
on the scene told another security officer to rip his uniform, so that
they could claim that Maqbool had attacked him, providing them a reason
for shooting the journalist, said Maqbool.

He was saved when another police officer approached the checkpoint and
helped Maqbool get away. Before leaving, the abusive security officer
told Maqbool that he would kill all of the journalists "one by one."

Jeelani died en route to the hospital after a van carrying an elections
monitoring team detonated an explosive device on a rural road in northern
Kashmir.

Jeelani was a freelance journalist who contributed to local newspapers,
and a human rights activist who worked with several nongovernmental
organizations. Local sources said she was helping a local umbrella organization,
the Coalition of Civil Society, prepare an account of its monitoring
activity, and may have been reporting on the election herself.

The driver of the van was also killed in the blast. After the explosion,
the coalition called off its monitoring activities, citing the danger
involved.
APRIL 20, 2004
Posted: April 30, 2004

Khurram Parvez, freelance
ATTACKED

Journalism student Parvez sustained severe injuries to his leg when
the van he was traveling in, which was being used by an elections monitoring
team sent by a local umbrella organization, the Coalition of Civil Society,
detonated a land mine on a rural road in northern Kashmir.

According to Imroz Parvez (no relation), who heads the coalition, Khurram
is studying journalism and has contributed reporting to Informative
Missive, a monthly publication put out by a local human rights organization
affiliated with the coalition.

Following the blast, Khurram received extensive medical care and his
leg was operated on several times at a hospital in Srinagar, the summer
capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. Another journalist and human rights
activist, Asiya Jeelani, was killed in the explosion.

APRIL 25, 2004Posted: May 3, 2004
Sheikh Tariq, NDTVATTACKED

Tariq, a cameraman for the private satellite channel New Delhi Television
(NDTV), was injured in a grenade attack aimed at Mehbooba Mufti, head
of Kashmir's ruling People's Democratic Party, near the town of Kulgam
in the south of the troubled territory. The attack took place on the
eve of voting in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state,
in India's staggered national elections.

Tariq was filming from a vehicle near Mufti's motorcade when the grenade
exploded, he told CPJ. The cameraman was accompanied by a reporter from
NDTV, Fayaz Bukhari, and their driver, Mohammed Ismail, who was also
injured. Tariq sustained minor injuries to his hands and leg in the
explosion and spent a half-hour in the Kulgam hospital following the
attack.

Mufti was unhurt in the attack, according to news reports, but several
bystanders were killed and dozens were injured in the explosion.

According to local sources, no group has claimed responsibility for
the attack, but local police officers blamed Islamic militants, who
have been engaged in a violent struggle against Indian rule since 1989.

MAY 3, 2004
Posted: May 3, 2004

Habib Naqash, freelance
ATTACKED

Naqash, a freelance photojournalist who works for the national English-language
daily Asian Age and the local English-language daily Greater
Kashmir, was injured in a grenade explosion in Srinagar, the summer
capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. Nakash was outside Greater Kashmir's
office when a grenade was hurled at the nearby home of politician Nizamuddin
Bhat, who is a parliamentary candidate for the state's ruling People's
Democratic Party.

Naqash sustained several injuries in the attack, including shrapnel
wounds in his chest and hands. Following the explosion, he was admitted
to a hospital in Srinagar.

A local police officer told The Associated Press that the attack was
orchestrated by alleged Islamic militants who were targeting Bhat's
home. The officer also said that a search had been launched for the
perpetrators. Militant groups have been engaged in a violent struggle
against Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989.

JUNE 29, 2004Posted: July 14, 2004MahanagarATTACKED

Militant members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
attacked the offices of the Marathi-language daily Mahanagar
in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). According to the paper's editor in chief,
Nikhil Wagle, more than 30 people stormed the paper's offices, shouting
BJP slogans and expressing anger at Mahanagar's editorial line,
which they said was anti-BJP.

The militants told several journalists who were present that they were
looking for Wagle, who was out of the office during the attack, the
editor said. The militants threw away some of the newspaper's files,
disconnected the electricity, and blacked out the paper's name on its
sign. They also pushed several staff members, including Yuvraj Mohite,
a senior reporter, and Vaishali Rode, an assistant editor.

Local journalists told CPJ that Mahanagar is respected for its
independence. Wagle said the publication has criticized the BJP and
other Hindu nationalist political parties for their policy of stirring
up tension between Hindus and members of India's minority religious
groups, notably Muslims. According to local sources, BJP members' anger
at Mahanagar may have increased after this year's national elections,
in which the BJP lost control of Parliament.

Mahanagar has been attacked several times by members of militant
Hindu groups. In 1996, hundreds of activists from the Hindu nationalist
Shiv Sena party stormed the newspaper's offices after the paper published
criticism of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.

In July, police arrested nine suspects and charged them in connection
with the attack. However, Wagle told CPJ that no one has been convicted
of any of the past attacks on Mahanagar.

AUGUST 24, 2004Posted: August 27, 2004

Sajid Rashid, MahanagarATTACKEDTwo unidentified assailants stabbed Rashid, 48, editor of
the Marathi-language daily Mahanagar, outside his office in Mumbai
on the evening of August 24. Rashid was stabbed twice and was rushed
to a local hospital for treatment, according to local press reports.
Police launched an investigation into the attack, and were looking at
articles written by Rashid to see if they were connected to the attack.

Rashid is affiliated with Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD), a progressive
local organization, and has spoken out against the so-called "triple
talaq" system, a local Muslim custom relating to divorce whereby
a man can divorce his wife simply by uttering "talaq"three
times, according to local press accounts.

In July, Rashid and other MSD members approached the Indian Muslim Law
Board to discuss the "triple talaq" custom, according to the
Express News Service.

Rashid has written extensively on the "triple talaq" issue, and
received threats earlier this month that he reported to local police,
according to press accounts.

The newspaper is known for its independent stance, according to local
journalists, and has been attacked several times.

On June 24, militant members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) stormed Mahanagar's offices, shouting BJP slogans
and expressing anger at Mahanagar's editorial line, which they
said was anti-BJP, according to the paper's editor-in-chief, Nikhil
Wagle.

In July, police arrested nine suspects and charged them in connection
with the attack, but there have been no convictions, according to local
journalists.

In 1996, hundreds of activists from the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena
party stormed the newspaper's offices after the paper published criticism
of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2004Posted: September 28, 2004
Rafiq Maqbool, The Associated Press
Amin War, The TribuneATTACKED

Photographers Rafiq Maqbool of The Associated Press, and Amin War of
the national newspaper The Tribune, were beaten by police while
covering a violent demonstration in Srinagar, the summer capital of
war-torn Kashmir, on September 25. Maqbool and War were photographing as many as 100 activists from
the militant separatist group, the Democratic Liberation Party (DLP),
when police turned on them and started beating them with rifle butts
and bamboo batons, according to Maqbool. "The police just ignored the
rioters. They, instead, starting thrashing us, even though we told them
we were photojournalists," Maqbool told CPJ.

Reports from the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) confirmed the attack
on the photographers. Photographs provided to CPJ clearly show where
Maqbool was beaten on his back and arm.

DLP militants were in the midst of a violent rampage, targeting hotels
and restaurants where young couples go out together in public, according
to local news reports. The rioters broke windows and furniture, and
attacked patrons at the businesses, The Associated Press reported.

IANS quoted one masked activist as he dragged a waiter out of a restaurant
as saying that the businesses had been warned to shut down because they
had become "centers for vulgarity in public life."

Maqbool and Amin received medical treatment for their injuries. The
deputy general of the local police has ordered an official inquiry into
the attack on the journalists, according to local press reports.

The DLP, founded by the former hijacker Hashim Qureshi, has previously
threatened beauty parlors, movie theaters, and other businesses it considers
"obscene and vulgar."

Journalists are frequently targeted by government security forces and
separatist groups in Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority population
and is claimed by both India and Pakistan. In March 2004, Maqbool was
harassed and beaten at a police checkpoint when security officers saw
his cameras in his car.

NOVEMBER 1, 2004Posted: November 9, 2004

As many as 20 journalists from various outletsATTACKED

Journalists covering the arrival of a government minister at the Karipur
airport in Kozhikode in the southern Kerala province came under attack
from a large group of the minister's supporters who beat as many as
20 journalists, according to local reporters and news sources.

The Kerala Industries Minister, P. K. Kunhalikutty, is under investigation
for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Supporters from the Indian
Union Muslim League political party accuse the local media of taking
an overly aggressive stance on the accusations.

Photographers and cameraman say that their equipment was damaged by
the angry mob, according to a report by the Indo-Asian News Service,
a news wire service. A female reporter with Asianet TV, identified as
S. Deepa, said as many as 50 supporters verbally abused, beat, and kicked
her and her cameraman.

Activists also attacked some of the journalists' vehicles, and threw
stones at the office of Indiavision, a private television channel.

Local journalists protested the abuse, demanding that legal action be
taken against their assailants and that Kunhalikutty resign from office.
The local government launched a judicial probe into the incident on
November 3.

NOVEMBER 8, 2004Posted: November 12, 2004

Dilip Mohapatra, Aji Kagoj
KILLEDUNCONFIRMED

Mohapatra, editor of the Oriya-language newspaper Aji Kagoj,
disappeared. His body was discovered the next day on the side of the
NH-42 national highway near the village of Bhagirathipur in the eastern
state of Orissa with his hands and legs tied and a head wound, the Press
Trust of India (PTI), a national newswire service, reported. Local journalists
confirmed the murder but knew of no specific motive.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating the case to determine
whether Mohapatra's murder could be related to his work as a journalist.